Mother charged in connection with death of 6-month-old Detroit baby killed in hit-and-run crash

Demetrius Brown Jr. killed in crash

DETROIT – The mother of a 6-month-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run crash has been charged in connection with her son's death, Detroit police said.

The Detroit Police Department announced Monday that it was looking for the woman in connection with the baby's death as well as other charges. She was taken into custody around 7 p.m.

LaToya Powels has been charged with homicide -- involuntary manslaughter, three counts of second-degree child abuse, operating with a high blood-alcohol content, operating under the influence with an occupant younger than 16 and operating with a license that was suspended, revoked or denied.

Police said that Powel was partly at fault because she was driving drunk when her car was T-boned by another driver, who has already been arrested.

Demetrius Brown Jr. was killed Thursday night.

A Detroit man was charged Monday in connection with the fatal hit-and-run that killed Demetrius and injured three others on Detroit's west side.

Deandre L. Cody, 31, is charged with failure to stop at an accident when at fault resulting in death, two counts of failure to stop at an accident resulting in serious injury resulting in death or serious impairment, driving with a suspended license causing death, and two counts of driving with a suspended license causing serious injury.

ORIGINAL REPORT: 6-month-old boy killed in hit-and-run; Detroit police search for driver

The crash occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday when a silver Pontiac Grand Prix T-boned a minivan at the intersection of Archdale Street and Puritan Avenue, which is near the Southfield Freeway south of West McNichols Road.

The van containing Powel and her children was hit so hard it flipped and rolled over. There were six people inside -- a mother, grandmother and four children ages 6 months, 2 years, 4 years, and 12 years old. All four children were thrown from the van after the windows shattered.

Demetrius was killed. The rest of the people in the minivan suffered non-life-threatening injuries. 

“And I woke up, I was on the ground, and I just got up like ‘my babies, my babies!’” Powel said.

The family says despite being properly restrained in a car seat, Demetrius did not survive his injuries from the crash.

“He was born a preemie, he got big and was starting to crawl and laugh, and in 6 months, they took him away from us,” Brown said.

Stay with Local 4 and ClickonDetroit.com as the story develops.

Sign up for ClickOnDetroit Email Newsletters (click here) for more stories like this.


About the Author:

Derick is the Lead Digital Editor for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.